woodyfox

The GF casting won't take solder. I drilled holes and inserted brass wire to solder feeds onto when i converted a Peak to DCC.

Hi Ken, I would email Steve at Railtec transfers. He is very good and has done bespoke stuff for me in the past.

I would advise against using ipa as it has a high polar charge effect which encourages the micro arcing that produces dirt. I would stick to those fluid with a low polar rating. That's my reason for opting for lighter fluid.

I run DCC in n gauge and use WD40 contact cleaner after cleaning with lighter fluid. It works really well. I believe the key is to use a non-ionic liquid for cleaning (water and IPA are ionically charged apparently but lighter fluid isn't) followed by a protective barrier of contact cleaner. Studies of track dirt shows that it is caused by micro arcing at the wheel rail interface which the constant high current of DCC combined with an ionically charged cleaning fluid being used accelerates dirt production/accumulation.

This is superb. Recommend to anyone wanting to model industrial decline, BR 70s freight operations and private shunters.

Cosmetic shops do nail polishing pads with 4 different grades on each side for the cost of pennies. I use them on my n gauge track with success. I wipe the lifted dirt off the polish pads with lighter fluid. I then use the WD40 contact cleaner on the rail head. I get good smooth slow running.

For a very strong bond in an awkward space with various materials I always use superglue with bicarbonate of soda either sprinkled on to the wet glue around the join or put on first before the glue. It sets very hard and can be sanded back. I've used this method to secure magnets on O Gauge vehicles to act as couplings without any failures.

Hi all, I've added some greenery to the swing bridge scene and completed the two-part resin pour on the river. I think it's OK - no leaks! The below video clips show the progress utilising my full ER HST with power cars 43078 and 43079 shattering the Sunday morning peace with the Paxman units on full tilt. A class 108 on a local passes in the other direction almost unnoticed.... Cheers Stu

On reflection you're absolutely correct. Abigails party would of course have been repleat with lined drapes - i'll adjust prior to fitting the roofs. Thanks Stu

Hi Robert, This 124 utilises the Worsley Works etches with Minitrix MK1s providing the frames, bogies and roofs. The underframe equipment is scratch built. I believe someone does a 3d printed version? Cheers Stu

Thanks Adrian - an opening bridge would have been a step of too much complexity for my abilities!

Hi, I've built a row of stone houses on a rise in front of the 4 track section. The roofs are next on the list of to do's but to my eye the curtains are way too bright! I know it's the 70s and oranges and pinks are all the rage but surely this is too far.. Cheers Stu

Hi, Back in July my daughter left home to live in Uni accommodation. She vacated our converted loft space. After I pleaded with her (for a few seconds ) not to leave her room so I could finally build a layout in a dry, warm, decent sized room. It was all to no avail and so I was forced to begin building Hinderwell. Based in the West Riding of Yorkshire somewhere, it's a 10'6 by 7' oblong roundy with a sliding drawer storage yard that's (very annoyingly) 5mm too short for a full Eastern Region HST. The baseboards are open plan 12mm ply with the track base 12mm ply atop 12"spaced uprights. It's a four track mainline for half the run reducing to two lines over a swingbridge. Then there's a through station (with removed middle road) leading to a single lead rationalised junction. Track is Peco code 55 with electrofrogs, the storage bit utilises code 80. It's DCC with turnouts controlled by analogue Cobalt motors. Signalling will be 3 aspect colour light using Absolute Aspects signals. The storage yard has 14 lines and I use brass tube soldered to the outside of the rails with brass wire L shapes to align the tracks through the tubes. This also provides sufficient current flow. This is the single lead junction out of the storage sidings leading to the station area. Beyond this around the far curve is the swing bridge. This is the swing bride area. The river bed is being prepared for a resin pour. The flat area will have a redundant industrial building on it. As it's West Yorkshire in the 70s, i've built some stock to cover gaps in the RTR range. This includes class 104, 110 and 124 DMU's. Here's the 6 car Transpennine class 124 crossing the Hinderwell swing bridge with the Calder Valley 3 car class 110 passing in the other direction. Cheers Stu

Try here: https://healthyhumanlife.com/blogs/news/how-long-does-it-take-for-plastic-to-decompose Or here: https://www.plasticsoupfoundation.org/en/plastic-problem/plastic-environment/plastic-production-decomposition/ There are a multitude of other sources. Plastic has been around for about 70 years. No bacteria are known to process/utilise it. Reasearch into enzyme breakdown is still in its infancy. Scientific estimates suggest a time for plastic to disappear from the environment to be in at least the 10s of thousands of years. Sources claiming shorter 'decomposition' times are misleading. Decomposition is a natural process - plastics merely deteriorate into smaller fragments as UV attacks the polymer bonds.

UV light causes brittleness in plastics. Regular exposure to direct sunlight is enough. They may have been stored as shop stock in such a way prior to purchase? Rather depressingly, every bit of plastic that's ever been manufactured globally still exists somewhere.